Lou was interviewed the other day and started pondering a variety of lineup and batting order switches that seemed to make a little sense, but maybe this morning he woke up and forgot that the Dodgers pitcher was right-handed. He had the all right-handed lineup back out there for some reason with the exception of Fukudome, who batted fifth. Theriot batted first, of course. He has about a .260 OBA for May with one base-on-balls and has not taken a pitch in several weeks. A weak tapper to 2B got this one off to a rousing start.
Too bad the Dodgers decided to rest Ramirez today, as Johnson robbed the Cubs of several hits. Also Castro hit the ball hard twice to no avail. Quite a pitchers' duel. The Cubs missed a great chance in the 7th when Lee led off with a walk, but was caught stealing when Byrd missed the hit-and-run sign. Didn't matter much because Byrd, who is still in a slump, hit a double play grounder anyway, and after Fukudome delivered a solid hit, Nady lined out hard to Johnson in left field.
Some oddities in the 8th inning. Lilly, who was pitching very well, was removed after only 85 pitches. Baker never moved on a ground ball that may or may not have been playable and then took himself out of the game. Ironically, the removal of Baker turned out well for the Cubs, as it forced Lou to use Fontenot as a replacement. Lou will almost never pinch hit for Baker, but in this case the forced switch payed off as Fontenot came through with a triple and the other guy who should have been in the lineup from the beginning, Tyler Colvin, followed with a run-scoring double, bringing in the only run of the game.
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